1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector terminal which is inserted into a connector housing and is retained in the connector housing.
2. Background
FIG. 5 shows a terminal 1 disclosed by Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 2-299176.
The terminal 1 includes: a contact section 2 having a pair of contact pieces 2a and 2b which are resiliently brought into contact with an end portion of a terminal of a mating connector from the above and below; a press-connecting section 3 to which a covered wire is press-connected to electrically connect; and a clamping section 4 adapted to clamp the covered wire to fix the covered wire. Thus, in the terminal 1, the contact section 2, the press-connecting section 3, and the clamping section 4 are arranged in the stated order. The upper contact piece 2a has a resilient locking piece 5 which is formed by cutting and raising a part of the contact piece 2a. The resilient locking piece 5 is used to prevent the terminal 1 from coming off the connector housing.
FIGS. 6a to 6c show a process of mounting the terminal 1 onto a connector housing 6.
The connector housing 6 includes an upper wall 7, a lower wall 8, a front end wall 9, and side walls 10. Those walls 7 through 10 form a terminal receiving chamber into which the terminal 1 is insertable. The upper wall 7 has a locking hole 12 which extends through the upper wall 7 in a thickness direction. The locking piece 5 is locked to the locking hole 12. A diameter of the locking hole 12 is equal or slightly larger than the width of the locking piece 5. Thus, the locking piece 5 engages with the locking hole 12 while being inserted in the locking hole 12. The front end wall 9 has a terminal inserting hole 12 into which a terminal of a mating connector is insertable.
As shown in FIG. 6a, the terminal 1 is placed in the connector housing 6 from a rear of the upper wall 7. Then, as shown in FIG. 6b, a jig 14 is used so that the terminal 1 is inserted into the terminal receiving chamber 11 while being slid on the upper surface of the lower wall 8. This insertion causes the contact section 2 of the terminal to confront directly with the terminal inserting hole 13. At this time, the resilient locking piece 5 engages with the locking hole 12 of the upper wall 7 so as to prevent a rearward withdrawal of the terminal 1 from the connector housing 6.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6c, the covered wire 15 is pressed so that the press-connecting section 3 is electrically connected to the conductor of the covered wire 15. Under this condition, the rear end portion of the connector housing 6 is covered with a cover plate 16.
When it is required to remove the terminal 1 from the connector housing 6, a jig is inserted into the locking hole 12 to push down the resilient locking piece 5 until that the resilient locking piece 5 can be disengaged from the locking hole 12.
The terminal 1, however, may be relatively readily disengaged from the connector housing 6 when the terminal 1 is pulled axially. This operation will now be described with reference to FIGS. 7a and 7b. As shown in FIG. 7a, when the terminal 1 is pulled in the direction of the arrow D, the resilient locking piece 5 is abutted against the inner surface of the locking hole 12. When the terminal 1 is further pulled in the same direction, the resilient locking piece 5 is warped upwardly along the inner surface of the locking hole 12 as shown in FIG. 7b. Accordingly, the terminal 1 is pulled out in the direction of tension. As described above, the terminal is not positively held in the connector housing sufficiently. Thus, the structure of the terminal is low in reliability.